Of Sighs and Promises
by just like our last
Summary: It's just not fair.


**Author's note: I wrote this for school, so... It's not very good. XD**

**Disclaimer: Characters belong to Dan.**

"Tell me," She orders in a strict but sweet voice, a voice full of promise and concern. "Please."

I can only shake my head, insistent on keeping silent. I can't tell her. For seventeen years I have not told anyone. I can't change that, even for my best friend. She simply can't know. My mother would kill me.

Not that she hasn't come close to doing so already.

"I can't," I plea. "I can't tell you what's wrong because… because it doesn't have to do with you."

"_Sam_," Her eyes are filled with such worry; it's as though she will cry if I don't tell her. "Anything that's making you this upset obviously has to do with me, too. You're my best friend. Your problems are my problems. Just tell me."

I shake my head again, and she starts to cry, just as I predicted. A lone tear rolls down her cheek, her eyes filled with more concern than I have ever seen on anyone's face. It's times like this when I remember why she's really my best friend. "Carly, don't do this…" I plead. I can't take her puppy dog eyes; I can't stand to see her cry. It's making me want to fess-up, and that's the last thing I can afford to do right now.

She sighs. "If I ankle-swear not to tell, will you tell me? And I won't break it like last time," She promises. But I know that's a lie. If she couldn't keep an ankle swear when I changed our grades on the school's computer, she's not going to be able to keep one about something as serious as this. But then, I remind myself, that was three years ago. She's changed a lot. But so have I.

There is something about her serene beauty being threatened by tears that makes me give in. I simply can't stand to see her cry. "Okay, if you ankle-swear. And you can't break it this time," I warn, my eyes narrowing slightly.

"I won't," She promises, and we perform the inconveniently long and complicated hand shake ending where we both say 'I swear' at the same time. A look of sincerity is etched on her face as her eyes meet mine, and we sit down again to face each other. "Now, tell me." She offers a small, concerned smile, and I begin my story.

"I'll just… start at the beginning." My eyes shift towards the ground, not daring to meet hers as I speak. "Ever since as far back as I can remember, my parents hated me. I think you already know that my mom's not a great mom. But you don't know just how… awful she really is. Well, my dad was even worse, before he left. They'd beat me and yell at me… my mom still does. I know they hate me, but I just wish they'd… express their hatred a little less often. My sister, she was always Little Miss Perfect. She never got beaten, even though they didn't pay much attention to her. They just ignored her. But with me, I guess they just needed someone to take their anger out on. Though I still don't know exactly what they were so angry about. A few years before I met you, my dad left. I was surprised he stayed as long as he did. I think I was six when it happened. But I remember it, so clearly, because of how hard he hit me right before he left. I was crying and… my mom didn't care. She left me there. And then I remember my sister coming up to me and holding me and comforting me. I know we're twins, but she's always been the mature, motherly one. Even though I always said I hated her, because I got abused and she didn't… she's the one member of our family that actually cares about me. I owe her a lot, for that.

"When I met you, I was so glad to have a real friend. I had never had a real friend before… I knew Freddie but I wasn't really friends with him until you came along…" Never mind the fact that I just called Freddie, the object of my teasing and 'hatred', a real friend. He means a lot more to me than I let on. I chance a glance up at Carly. She is crying softly, listening intently. I realize then that I am starting to tear up too. Looking down again, I continue my story.

"I started spending a lot more time at your house, because it started to feel a lot more like home than at my real home, because here I was surrounded by people that cared about me, you and Freddie and Spencer… I felt loved, for the first time in my life. But the abuse didn't stop. It's been better, since my dad left, but it's still there. Now, my mom takes out the anger that dad's gone, Melanie's off at boarding school, and she's stuck with me, by abusing me. It's like a nightmare that I can't forget, even when I'm awake, because it's always there. It hurts, but… it's okay, because I have people that love me to keep me going."

I take a breath and look at her. I have never seen anyone look so sad. As I spoke, I have allowed a few tears to flow down my cheeks, but I have never been one to cry, and I am trying my best to keep myself together now. Silently, she gets up from her seat just across from me and moves over to me, wraps her arms around me and just hugs me, both of us allowing ourselves to cry freely. In her eyes remains the promise that she made, and I can tell that this time she'll be keeping her word.

"Sam," She whispers finally. "This isn't fair, what they're doing to you. It's just not fair."

She sounds as though I didn't know that before.


End file.
